West Ham announce record profits

The Hammers sit sixth in the Barclays Premier League heading into the new year and just two points off the Champions League positions.

The club have also unveiled their plans for their new Olympic Stadium home and agreed the sale of their current Upton Park site.

In a statement issued on their official website West Ham announced their latest figures, with many showing an upturn in fortunes with Sullivan announcing over the weekend he is hoping he and co-owner David Gold can sell a 20 per cent stake in the club.

"West Ham United are pleased to announce a record group profit before tax of £10.3m following a successful 2013/14 for the club both on and off the pitch," the statement read.

"This is a significant improvement on last year's loss before tax of £3.5m

As the team overcame a difficult start to the season to finish 13th in the Barclays Premier League, the club increased revenues to an all-time high

Turnover was up to £114.8m compared to £89.8m the previous year, helped by the new broadcast deal and an increase in most other income sources.

"The wage/turnover ratio also decreased to 55.6 per cent against 62.6 per cent last year, the lowest ratio since this was first calculated 15 years ago."

The turnover was up despite bringing in nine new faces in the summer, seven of which were permanent transfers, and Sullivan said in the statement that the board want to continue the improvements.

"My board and I are satisfied with the achievements we have made in the 2013/14 season," he said.

"The highlights for us being retaining our Premier League status and reaching the semi-final of the Capital One Cup, signing an agreement to sell the Boleyn Ground in preparation for our move to the Olympic Stadium for the 2016/17 season, and our fantastic support despite our many injuries and therefore subsequent challenging performances on the pitch.

"We continue to believe we will deliver both on and off the pitch by investing in the team, the brand and managing the business well."

Karren Brady, the club's vice-chairman and the driving force behind the move to the Olympic Park, praised manager Sam Allardyce and the players, insisting the growth off the pitch goes hand in hand with success on it.

"Through the hard work of a fantastic, dedicated, loyal and determined team both on and off the pitch the club has grown in size, revenue and in stature this season," she said.

"The management team off the pitch were able to capitalise and maximise on all the opportunities the manager and the team delivered on the pitch."

The West Ham hierarchy will no doubt be hoping to use the figures to tempt any potential investments into the club after Sullivan told the Sunday Telegraph that he and Gold were looking to raise £80m to help reduce debts.

"We've no desire to give up the whole club," Sullivan said

"But we're still £110million in debt - albeit now £55million of that is to ourselves

So the third-party debt has been halved, but only because we've put the money in.

"We lost £30million when we went down (to the Championship in 2011) and we made £10million on paper last year

What's on paper is not cash-flow and we have to pay down the debt all the time and we have to be clear of bank debt when we move to the Olympic Stadium."

Source : PA

Source: PA